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State of Practice of User-Developer Communication in Large-Scale IT Projects

Results of an Expert Interview Series

  • Conference paper
Book cover Requirements Engineering: Foundation for Software Quality (REFSQ 2014)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNPSE,volume 8396))

Abstract

[Context and motivation] User participation in software development is considered to be essential for successful software systems. Especially missing direct communication between users and developers can cause various issues in large-scale IT projects. [Question/Problem] We want to understand current practices of user–developer communication in large-scale IT projects, the factors for, and consequences of communication gaps, and what experts suggest to prevent them. [Principal ideas/results]: We conducted a series of semi-structured interviews with twelve experts. The experts work on the coordination of Business and IT and describe their experiences gained in 69 large-scale IT projects. The analysis of our interviews showed that direct user– developer communication is limited and that no commonly used method for the user–developer communication in the design and implementation activity exists. [Contribution]: The interviews helped us to understand current practices and issues resulting from missing communication. Furthermore, we can confirm the need for a method enhancing user–developer-communication in large-scale IT projects.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Computer Science, University of Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 326, 69120, Heidelberg, Germany

    Ulrike Abelein & Barbara Paech

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  1. Ulrike Abelein
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  2. Barbara Paech
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Centre Pierre Mendes France, Université Paris 1 Panthéon - Sorbonne, 90, rue de Tolbiac, 75634, Paris Cedex 13, France

    Camille Salinesi

  2. KIN Research Group, VU University Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1105, 1081 HV, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Inge van de Weerd

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Abelein, U., Paech, B. (2014). State of Practice of User-Developer Communication in Large-Scale IT Projects. In: Salinesi, C., van de Weerd, I. (eds) Requirements Engineering: Foundation for Software Quality. REFSQ 2014. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 8396. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05843-6_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05843-6_8

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-05842-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-05843-6

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